I’ve been a writer for 25 years and haven’t finished a single book yet. I write all day, every day, and have practically nothing to show for it. I don’t really know why I write, although I surely do enjoy it; all I know for sure is that I haven’t made a penny from what I’ve written so far
Category: Fiction
“Jonas & Nadia” by Pascale Joachim
I hear barking coming from inside the house as I help my parents unload our minivan in the already packed driveway. It sounds like Nella got big. I toss my backpack over my shoulder and bend to lift my two duffle bags. Frustrated because I’ll have to make two trips to bring everything inside, I curse myself for overpacking. Again
“The Mountain, the Lake, and Rain” by Orion Emerick
My great-aunt Rose told me stars were air holes poked in the top of a container that huge aliens were keeping us in, like children trapping fireflies. She said we got fireworks when the massive aliens flicked ash from their cigarettes. She wove wonderful delusions to explain the beauty of the world
“Patrus” by Cameron Deslaurier
Per the Delta-Deviance Articles, Article I, Section 4, citizens of Atollis must report all sightings of unregistered Deltas to the DATA within 24 hours on penalty of jail time. If a citizen has reasonable suspicion that an individual is an unregistered Delta, they are urged to leave an anonymous tip at a DATA precinct
“Rodeo Heat” by Gabrielle Esposito
You’re sitting on hot metal stands wondering how you got here. Not the physical here of Dry Cactus Rodeo Arena or Benson, Arizona, but your path in life—31 and married, wearing long sleeves and jeans in 115-degree rodeo heat because you’re trying to cover up the abuse-bruises on your body
“Haunted Ghosts” by Katya Lyashenko
Second place winner for The Jennie Hackman Memorial Award for Short Fiction (2022) The thing about living long enough to see the aftermath (living longer than she ever thought she would), is that Josie doesn’t quite know what to do with herself anymore. There was always something before. Something to…
“Moon-Stain and Crawdad Eater” by Charlie M. Case
CW: Death, Domestic abuse This is what is most important: the ache in scraped knees. The crawdads scuttling among river rocks. The groan of pipes in your cracked kitchen sink. Night stealing hours. Ponds like meters-wide tide pools. Mud stealing hours. The leak in your bedroom ceiling, the water damage…
“Knell Inevitable” by Charlie M. Case
CW: Illness, Death It came to me on the sixth night of my sickness, when the suffering had ceased to be new. I had been lulled into those familiar throes which, now that I was accustomed to them, deceived me into thinking that they were kinder. In came something—and I…
“The Ostrava Line” by Liam Kelsey
Contest winner for The Long River Review Graduate Award (2022) “What would you like to know about yourself?” This was what my neighbor asked me when I took my seat. He was wearing a black suit and had a thick laptop resting on his thighs. I asked him what he…
Constance By Jeremiah Dennehy (2017)
The Jennie Hackman Memorial Prize for Fiction, Third Place (2017) I don’t take the school bus, I don’t drive, and because mom doesn’t get home from work until four most of the time, I don’t ask her for a ride. But if I take the 509 toward Whitney Avenue at…